Electric lamp



No. 24I,430. Patented May 10,1881;

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- UNITED I, STATES I own, oonnEoTIo UT.

PATENT OFFICE. 1

WILLIAM sAwYER AND ROBERT sTREET, on NEW YoRK, N.-Y., ASSIGN- oRs To EASTERN ELEoTRIo MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF MIDDLF- ELECTRIC'LAMP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 241,430, dated May 10, 1881.

, Application filed December 2, 1880. (No model.)

I tric Lamps; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others i o skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

Our invention relates to electric lamps; and it consists, first, in an incandescent lamp provided with two or more carbons, one of which is renewed in a bath of hydrocarbon while the other is being burned.

It further consists in details of construction and operation, that will be hereinafter more fully set forth in the specification, and pointed out in the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 of which is a side elevation, partly in section, 25 and Fig. 2 is an end view, of our lamp.

Electric lights have generallybeen divided into classes or systems known as the arc and incandescent systems or lights. Heretofore the are light has been the only one that could go be used in open air or in the presence of oxygen. In the second instance (the incandescent light) it has been necessary to place the pencil of carbon in a hermetically-sealed glass tube or globe filled with nitrogen gas or ex- 3 5 hausted of air, so as to prevent rapid consumption of the carbon. In the are light the combustion and consumption of the carbon is so rapid as to require them to be replaced at the expiration of a few hours. Moreover, owing to the varying and unequal rates of combustion of the arc-light pencils and the inequalities of the feed mechanism, the arc lights are constantly flickering and unsteady. The incandescent light is steady, but heretofore could 4 5 not be used in the open air, on account of the quick consumption of the carbon and the time and expense required to renew them. Again,

in the present systems of incandescentlamps,

the lamp is destroyed as soon as exposed to the air.

The object of our invention is to produce an incandescent lamp that can be burned freely in the open air, and that does not constantly require the renewing of the pencils or the use of scaled globes, and one in which the carbons 5 will be renewed in and of themselves by their direct action, as will be hereinafter more fully described.

To effect the objects above set forth we take a metallic wheel, A, preferably of spun brass, and mount upon it, at equal or suitable distances apart, six insulating blocks of soapstone, B. To these blocks are fixed carbon clamps or supports 0, holding a carbon filament, I), of are or horseshoe shape. All of the negative ends of the clamps or supports 0 are connected with the metal of the wheel, to the shaft of which the negative pole of the generator makes connection. Six insulated commutator'segments, a, are fixed to the hub, and connection with these is made by commutatorbrush F. The positive ends of the carbons of each opposite pair are connected together and to the corresponding opposite segments of the commutator, as indicated at 1 2 3 of thedrawings. The current is thus divided, part flowing through the uppermost carbon, and part through the lower one, which is immersed in a vessel, G, filled with olive-oil or other hydrocarbon. The upper carbon burns in, the air with the utmost incandescence, while the lower one remains in the hydrocarbon bath. Now, when a pencil of carbon is immersed in a hydrocarbon gas or liquid and heated to incandescence by the passage of an electric current, it is well known that the surrounding hydrocarbon is decomposed, the hydrogen being set free and the carbon deposited on the pencil. This deposit is of the purest, densest, and hardest character. Thus while the upper carbon is burning the lower one is being renewed.

By means of an intermittent clock-work or other suitable mechanism, (the rate of which is regulated to suit approximately the consumption of the upper carbon,) the wheel A may be turned so as to bring each pair of opposing carbons in circuit before the uppermost carbon filament has been destroyed, and this operation may be continued indefinitely, the lower carbon being constantly renewed while the upper one is being-consumed.

Thus we have an open-air incandescentlam p of indefinite duration, in which, by one operation, carbon is consumed and carbon to be consumed is manufactured.

It is obvious, of course, that any other means of alternately bringing one of the carbons to the position for burning while the other is in the bath may be substituted without departing from the spirit of our invention. They may be caused to oscillate like a walkingbeam, 850.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- l 1. An incandescent electric lamp provided with two or more carbons, in combination with a bath of hydrocarbon and connections, as described,with a source of electric energy, whereby one carbon may be heated and renewed in the bath while the other is being burned.

l 2. In an incandescent electric lamp, one op more carbon conductors and connections with a source of electric energy, in combination with an open'bath of liquid hydrocarbon, whereby said carbon or carbons may be burned in ope air and renewed when desired without removal from the lamp, substantially as set forth.

3. In an electric lamp, the combination of a wheel or disk, provided with a series of car;

bons, and connections with a source of electric energy, as described, said wheel or disk bein adapted to be rotated, whereby pairs of opposin g carbons may be brought into the electric circuit, as described, and one carbon renewedl in the hydrocarbon while the other is being burned, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

W. E. SAWVYER. ROBT. STREET.

Witnesses:

E. R. KNowLEs, G. G. THATCHER. 

